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XRP recovers from Wednesday’s lows, but the upside is capped by $0.5600.

Western Union is not going to foster mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.

Ripple, the third largest coin by market value, is changing hands at $0.5490, off Wednesday’s low reached at $0.5020, which is the lowest level of 2018. XRP/USD has gained nearly 4% since the start of the day, but it is still down about 2% since this time yesterday. Ripple’s market value has settled at $21.5, with trading volumes $385M.

Not so willing Western Union

Much touted Ripple Network partnership deal with Western Union won’t help cryptos on their way to mass adoption. The truth was revealed on Wednesday when Western Union’s CEO Hikmet Ersek said that the company wouldn’t add a cryptocurrency transfer solution to its arsenal any time soon

“The consumers tell us what they want. People aren’t paying their hospital bills in cryptos,” Hikmet Ersek said at Economic Club of New York, explaining why the company prefers fiat currencies over their digital alternatives.

He also added that central banks will do whatever it takes to keep control over their local tender, that’s why fiat currencies like USD, EUR, and JPY will prevail.

“Nations are built on flags, constitutions, borders, and currencies, and no central bank home to a reserve currency would be willing to give that kind of control away.”

Ripple technical picture

Despite a strong recovery from recent lows, the longer-term picture looks gloomy as long as XRP/USD stays below $0.5600, which is 78.6% Fibo retracement level. If the coin manages to get back above this threshold, the recovery may be extended towards $0.6000. Otherwise, the focus will shift onto April’s low at $0.4500.